Asked by: Amber Rudd (Independent - Hastings and Rye)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what plans the Government has to implement the recommendations of the Electoral Commission's 2018 report, entitled Digital campaigning: increasing transparency for voters, on the transparency of (a) political online advertising, (b) costs from political parties and (c) sources of campaign funding.
Answered by Chloe Smith
Our current election process is robust and the Government is committed to increasing transparency in digital campaigning to maintain a fair and proportionate democratic process. The Cabinet Office has announced a range of measures to better safeguard UK elections against any potential intimidation, malign influence, interference and disinformation.
This included commitments to launch a consultation on electoral integrity and implement a digital imprints regime for online election material.
The consultation may consider recommendations for further increasing transparency on digital political advertising; closing potential loopholes on foreign spending in elections; and preventing shell companies from sidestepping the current rules on political finance.
Asked by: Amber Rudd (Independent - Hastings and Rye)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps the Government is taking to tackle online deep fakes in political campaigning.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The Government recognises the potential challenges artificial intelligence and digitally manipulated content, including “deepfakes”, may pose. We are considering these issues carefully as part of cross-Whitehall efforts to tackle online manipulation.
The Cabinet Office is taking a cross-Government approach to the safeguarding of our electoral processes through the Defending Democracy programme, including in relation to online manipulation. The Government has announced a range of measures to safeguard UK elections, including commitments to launch a consultation on electoral integrity and implementing a digital imprints regime for online election material. More detail on both of these will be brought forward in the coming months.
The Online Harms White Paper set out the Government's plans for world-leading legislation to make the UK the safest place in the world to be online. We intend to establish a new statutory duty of care on companies towards their users, overseen by an independent regulator, to ensure companies have appropriate processes in place to deal with harmful content on their service, and keep their users safe. Disinformation is one of the harms proposed to be in scope of the regulator.